Today, StillSecure launched the first of such offerings, Cloud Security Monitoring Service (Cloud SMS), a new, free of charge security solution for cloud computing instances. SoftLayer is featuring Cloud SMS in its Technology Partner Marketplace, allowing SoftLayer customers to download the solution.

StillSecure’s managed security services, which include intrusion detection and prevention, Web application firewall, log management, and over a dozen others, will protect customers from a variety of security threats while helping address regulatory compliance. StillSecure’s solutions are available as physical, virtual, or cloud implementations.

“Every organization has critical assets to protect and we are witnessing pent-up demand for managed security solutions,” said Duke Skarda, chief technology officer for SoftLayer. “StillSecure brings a broad portfolio of proven solutions for hosting providers, from cloud security to managed security for dedicated and colocation environments, which we plan to leverage. We look forward to bringing an even higher level of security that customers can easily deploy and manage when adopting new cloud computing models.”

StillSecure’s Cloud SMS is a host-based firewall solution that easily manages and monitors the on-board Linux IPTables firewall. Cloud SMS is ideal for CloudLayer and Dedicated customers looking to quickly and easily secure their environments without requiring security expertise. Cloud SMS places a small agent on the virtual instance or dedicated server and provides an easy-to-use Web-based UI that allows users to search for the right ports and protocols to block or allow. Further, users can track statistics and utilization via the embedded reports. Cloud SMS’ freeware host-based firewall management solution is the first in a series of cloud security solutions by StillSecure.

“With one of the most comprehensive platforms in the industry, SoftLayer is leading the way with innovative new services for their customers, who are serious about their hosting infrastructure,” said Rajat Bhargava, president and CEO of StillSecure. “We are excited to be working with the industry leader to provide our suite of cloud and managed security services to their fast growing customer base. We also share SoftLayer’s vision to offer the most secure cloud environment possible.”

“Aberdeen's recent research has shown that companies implementing security and compliance solutions that augment the current capabilities of their cloud service providers, but remain under enterprise control, are actually spending about one-third less annually on a per-application basis than those who merely accept the standard offerings,” commented Derek Brink, vice president and research fellow for IT Security, Aberdeen Group. “The combination of StillSecure's Cloud Security Monitoring Service with SoftLayer is not only well-aligned with this augment strategy, but also makes it even easier for SoftLayer customers to take advantage of these capabilities straight out-of-the-cloud.”

SoftLayer will offer Cloud SMS free of charge with all CloudLayer and Dedicated accounts and it will be available during Q4. Additional premium Cloud SMS services will be offered based on volume and features and will be available throughout 2012. StillSecure managed security services will be available to managed customers in Q4 and then rolled out to dedicated customers through 2012.